Literature Circle - The Teacher Bees Blog

Literature Circle

Blog entries relating to literature circles

Exploring Books by Black Poets in Middle Years

Exploring Books by Black Poets in Middle Years

This month two of my classes have been exploring novels-in-verse by Black authors. In part, this was to recognize Black History Month, with many of the stories focusing on different points in history. Other books included Black characters in contemporary settings that offered a range of different themes and topics,

Climate Change Fiction for Middle Years

Climate Change Fiction for Middle Years

Climate change is an overwhelming topic. It is important for students to learn about it, but some approaches can provoke eco-anxiety and lead many students to feel disconnected from the environmental crisis. Until recently, it has been difficult to find fiction that allows students to engage with the reality of

Books about Japanese Incarceration in WW2

Books about Japanese Incarceration in WW2

Recently I have been trying to update the novels in my human rights literature circle, focusing on themes relating to power and privilege. These days there are a wider selection of human rights themed books to choose from, ones where the author's own experiences or history help inform

Indigenous Storytelling Literature Circle

Indigenous Storytelling Literature Circle

In the past, when teaching my students about Indigenous perspectives, I have often taken an approach that focuses on human rights. We spend time learning about colonialism in Canada and focus on texts [https://teacherbees.ca/indigenous-stories-in-graphic-novels/] that support that understanding. While I still think it is important to do

Graphic Novels and Indigenous Rights

Graphic Novels and Indigenous Rights

Every year I try to improve how I include Indigenous voices and perspectives in my classroom. A unit I developed this year was a mini-literature circle that focused on graphic novels by Indigenous authors and artists. I am grateful for the many powerful works by these storytellers, which explore both

Piecing Me Together

Literature Circle

Piecing Me Together

Piecing Me Together [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25566675-piecing-me-together?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=T5AcnMoIGn&rank=1] , by Renée Watson, is a young adult novel that examines issues of race, privilege and identity for a teen girl from a poor neighbourhood. Jade, the book'

Repeating the Mistakes of Underground to Canada: Examining my own Biases

Repeating the Mistakes of Underground to Canada: Examining my own Biases

While I was in middle school, I only read one novel with Black characters for language arts class: Underground to Canada. This novel told the story of four Black people escaping from slavery using the Underground Railroad. In retrospect, it seems odd that a book written by a white author

The Failings of Climate Change Fiction

The Failings of Climate Change Fiction

Young adult and middle grade fiction are useful tools for teaching about tough issues. Problems like the refugee crisis [https://teacherbees.ca/refugee-books-for-middle-years/] or poverty are difficult and stories are important to help us better understand these issues and to give them a human face. Unfortunately, there has been scant

Identity Literature Circle

Identity Literature Circle

Earlier this year, I decided to develop another literature circle for my grade seven classroom. I currently teach two literature circles that focus on the themes of human rights and heroic journeys respectively. Inspired by Kelly Gallagher, I decided to condense these two units and create a third in order

Heroic Journey Lit Circle Overview

Heroic Journey Lit Circle Overview

I have written a number of entries that analyze specific books from my Heroic Journey Literature Circle unit. To sum it all up, here is an overview of the unit, along with my thoughts on how it needs to grow in the future. Learning Goals Going into this unit, I

The Power of Visual Texts

The Power of Visual Texts

Visual texts are great jumping off points for discussion and reflection during literature circles. Since students are reading a variety of books, it is useful to have common texts to help anchor the unit and teach specific skills and ideas. Of course, mentor texts and read aloud texts are essential

When a Book Fails

When a Book Fails

Not every book is going to be a winner and not every story will grab hold of a reader's attention. Back when I used to teach whole class novels, this used to be a problem that fell squarely on the shoulders of the reader. Don't like

Nimona: Heroic Journey Lit Circle Book 4

Nimona: Heroic Journey Lit Circle Book 4

One of my favourite books in our heroic journey literature circle is the graphic novel Nimona [https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0062278223/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=330641&creativeASIN=0062278223&linkCode=as2&tag=ebees-20&linkId=b5b2ad05e90cda5b343cb9f02f77dcda] , by Noelle Stevenson.

Peak: Heroic Journey Lit Circle Book 3

Peak: Heroic Journey Lit Circle Book 3

The third book in our heroic journey literature circle is Peak [https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0152062688/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=330641&creativeASIN=0152062688&linkCode=as2&tag=ebees-20&linkId=4d7e88bf8de13eb14df18dfcec6c8b8d] , by Roland Smith. Peak is about a boy

Devil's Pass: Heroic Journey Lit Circle Book 2

Devil's Pass: Heroic Journey Lit Circle Book 2

In our Heroic Journey literature circle [https://teacherbees.ca/how-to-be-a-hero/], another book that students enjoy is Devil's Pass [https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/155469938X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=330641&creativeASIN=155469938X&linkCode=as2&tag=ebees-20&linkId=

How To Be A Hero

How To Be A Hero

This week, my grade seven classes started our Heroic Journey literature circle unit. During this unit, students will discuss what it means to be a hero and analyse books using the heroic journey monomyth [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhk4N9A0oCA]. The monomyth is a story structure found in countless

Posted by John David Anderson

Posted by John David Anderson

Over the last two months, I have been toying with the idea of building a new literature circle for my class based on the theme of identity. As I investigated texts, a second theme of bullying began to emerge in many of the books I have been previewing. Both themes

He Who Dreams - The Importance of High Interest Books

He Who Dreams - The Importance of High Interest Books

For years, when I taught whole class novels I often felt stuck when it came to supporting struggling readers. Asking them to independently read a text that was beyond their current abilities clearly didn't work. Reading chapters aloud was an option, but relying on this strategy robbed them

Lily and Dunkin

Lily and Dunkin

Recently, I started hunting for novels for an identity themed literature circle. Lily and Dunkin [https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/055353677X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=330641&creativeASIN=055353677X&linkCode=as2&tag=ebees-20&linkId=0dc9da4c9980840c06102e34a20c6079] , by Donna Gephart, was

Human Rights Literature Circles

Human Rights Literature Circles

I love teaching grade seven students. At twelve and thirteen years old, my students are old enough to start delving into real world issues in more detail than their elementary school counterparts. As well, with a middle schooler's keen awareness of fairness and what is right, they care